Do you also have a Monstera in your living room?

Do you also have a Monstera in your living room?

Author: Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer May 14, 2026 Duration: 59:02

Vinyl records, coffee table books, low-maintenance pot plants: from Dublin to Dubrovnik, all good hipsters have the same stuff. The Italian writer Vincenzo Latronico captures this boring international aesthetic beautifully in his hit novel ‘Perfection’, while skewering millennial life in general. Do you like hearing about Lisbon food, the internet vs real life, and everything that’s wrong with the word ‘expat’? Then you’ll love our inaugural book club conversation, even if you haven’t read the book. We’re also talking this week about a fugitive Polish politician’s transatlantic dash, and the questionable Frenchness of a celebrated giraffe. Listen to the end if you want to know why we are launching a side-business importing sun loungers.

Our book club is brought to you in collaboration with the European Review of Books, featuring the magazine’s co-founder Wiegertje Postma along with Portuguese bookworm Teresa Bandeira de Carvalho. The latest issue of the European Review of Books is out today!

You can subscribe to Teresa’s excellent Substack here, and read her viral post on the word ‘expat’ here.

This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are the Zenodot website, where you can check if a book has been translated into your language, and the European Press Prize shortlist.

NEED MORE BOOK CHAT? Subscribers of The Europeans have access to an extended version of our book club conversation – twice as long and packed with thoughtful observations about everything from whether or not this story has a happy ending, to... how to run a book club. If you’re not yet a supporter of the podcast but you’d like to hear the longer version of the conversation, you can sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

The Europeans is made possible by listener contributions – we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs on Patreon in many different currencies, or you can gift a donation to a superfan. You can also donate via our website if you prefer. And finally: we'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Produced by Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Substack | hello@europeanspodcast.com


Every week, Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer sit down to untangle the stories shaping the continent, moving beyond the headlines to find the human threads within European news, politics, and culture. Their conversations feel like joining two well-informed friends who are genuinely curious, offering clarity on complex political shifts in Brussels one moment and diving into a compelling film from Berlin or a novel from Lisbon the next. This isn't about dry analysis; it's about understanding the forces that define daily life from Dublin to Sofia. In this The Europeans podcast, you'll hear interviews with policymakers, artists, and everyday people, all contributing to a richer, more nuanced picture of a region in constant motion. The tone is engaging and accessible, designed for anyone who feels that Europe's narrative is too often reduced to stereotypes or institutional jargon. By weaving together current affairs with deeper cultural trends, each episode builds a more complete and surprisingly relatable portrait. If you've ever wanted to feel more connected to the ideas and debates circulating across the Channel and beyond, this is a consistent and thoughtful guide.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Podcast Episodes
Europe's climate vibe has shifted. Now what? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:23
It hasn’t been a Good Week for the climate since, er, 1820-something? And it wasn’t last week, either. But it is a good week for The Europeans, because we’re joined by Luisa Neubauer, one of Germany’s best-known climate…
How Ireland proved a basic income for artists actually works [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:54
We don’t often get to cover joyful policy news on this podcast, so this week we’re delighted to be discussing that rare thing: a European country that’s investing serious money in culture. For three years, Ireland has be…
Help! My manager is an algorithm! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:43
KATY IS BACK! And we are proud to report that her new baby no longer looks like far-right French politician Éric Zemmour. Relief all around! It’s been a hectic time in Europe, but we’re happy to be covering it all—or, yo…
Drugs policy: Who Does It Best? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:39
Should weed be legalised? What about heroin? Set aside any previously held opinions and prepare a far-out trip! In the final episode of 'Who Does It Best?' producer Wojciech is taking us across the landscape of Europe’s…
Report from Novi Sad: Can students bring down a regime? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:55
We’re taking a momentary break from “Who Does It Best?” to take a trip to Serbia with producer Wojciech Oleksiak. Wojciech was on the ground in Novi Sad last weekend to report from the massive demonstration marking the o…
Childcare policy: Who Does It Best? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:42
Childcare policy affects all of us at some point in our lives. And depending on where you live, your country’s parental leave and early-education policies can determine everything from what you do for a living to how you…
Housing policy: Who Does It Best? - Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:11
Katz goes back to the drawing board. If the housing crisis is really about wealth inequality, doesn’t the policy we need to fix it… need to address wealth inequality? We go in deep, and what Katz finds makes us wonder: a…
Housing policy: Who Does It Best? - Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:28
Why is your rent so high? What are the policies that created this housing crisis, and what policies can get us out of it? This week we launch the first two parts of our new series, ‘Who Does It Best?’. At a time when man…
Who Does It Best? - A new miniseries, coming this week [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17
A new mini-series from The Europeans, landing in this feed later this week. From Paris to Breda, Rome to Reykjavik, ‘Who Does It Best?’ showcases some of Europe’s most successful policies—and offers a few lessons for oth…
Babiš is back [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:48
It’s been a busy week for European politics, European protests, and European wallabies. In the midst of the madness, we caught up with Kateřina Šafaříková of Czech news outlet Seznam Zprávy, who filled us in on the Czech…